Recently the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio concluded with the United States of America leading the field with a whopping 121 Olympic medals almost double that of its closest competitor, Great Britain with 67 medals. People around the globe tune in every four years for the summer Olympics to watch some of their native stars compete for a gold medal against the top athletes in the world. Nationalism and patriotism flourishes around this time as athlete know they have not only themselves or their coach to make proud but knowing a nation of people are routing for their success. These are all great, yet an aspect of professional sports, especially in the Olympics, which is often swept under the rug is the use of drugs that help athletes compete better. ‘Doping’ or drug use in sports is a prominent activity which many top athletes partake in which is illegal but many people are unaware of.
Doping has been around in professional sports from the creation of sports. Historically, ancient civilizations would have intense competitions where athletes or combatants would be fed a special diet. An article “Doping With Strychnine in Turkomenstallion Race Horse In Iran: A Case Report” by Amir Zakian and colleagues studies the problem with drug use in athletic competition from a historical point of view. “For instance, Scandinavian mythology says Berserkers could drink a mixture called "butotens", to greatly increase their physical power at the risk of insanity. One theory is that the mixture was prepared from the Amanita muscaria mushroom, though this has been disputed”(Zakian, Sharif, Sharif, Shahrani, Gholami, Rezaeian and Elikaei 2). This point out that natural plants and drugs have always bene a part of sports. In the 1904 Olympics, Thomas Hicks won a gold medal in the marathon. In the duration of the race, Hicks trainer came to his side and pulled out a syringe when he saw his athlete begin to struggle. In this instance, doping was visible and not too many people questioned it.
In more modern times there has been more focus placed on the use of drugs in sports. Many people are often unware of the frequency involved in doping of competitive sports. Most of the top athletes in the world are currently on performing enhancing drugs or have been found using them in the past. For example, one of the most known about cases involves cyclist Lance Armstrong. Lance Armstrong is a seven time Tour de France champion whom after admitting to drug use was stripped of his medals and removed from all record books. The media seems to have an obsession with scandals involving athletes. The problem is this only highlights athletes that are caught using drugs. Many athletes can go their entire career without getting caught.
Since the media only highlights the athletes that are caught doping, others that are never caught hide under the radar. Many athletes after their career has ended openly admit to not only them using PEDs but also many teammates. In every field of competitive sports athletes are encouraged to dope in an attempt to balance the playing field. If one person takes a PED than that athlete will have an advantage, thus to combat this all athletes are encourage to use PED. Some athletes have said this goes against their morals yet if they fail to do so they risk losing their job and competitive edge. Thus many are forced to go with the flow.
Doping when it comes to the Olympics is a serious problem. The Olympic committee has created a branch which is responsible for regulating drug use. The World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) strives to eliminate drug use in Olympic sports. While the committee has the right to randomly test any athlete, the agency often fails to implement this properly. On many occasions by the time an athlete is tested, they are able to get the drugs out of their system. This leads to many getting away with doping all the time. WADA has been critiqued many time and even mocked by Olympic athletes as the athletes acknowledge the wide use of drugs in competitive sports.
In combating this issue of doping, WADA needs to do a better job in implementing drug test on a more consistent basis. In addition, top athletes should be targeted as those are usually the ones that get away with doping throughout their career. Lastly more awareness needs to be brought to doping in all aspects of sports. Not only is doping dangerous to the health of the athlete but it also results in an unfair playing field for some athletes. Doping taints the integrity of a sport and thus should be treated more seriously.
